This morning on the blog we’re featuring an exquisitely pretty vintage-style real wedding. Bride Sarah opted for a gloriously unbound meadow-style bouquet, Matt chose a dashing brown tweed suit and they both plumped for a hearty Yorkshire-inspired feast for their wedding breakfast.

sarah says: We got engaged on 28th November 2015, after six-and-a-half-years together. Every November we go on a city break, and this year it was to New York. We were getting ready to go to Central Park and to watch the Thanksgiving parade when I noticed Tim getting fidgety! I thought he was getting annoyed at me for taking so long, but it was actually because he’d put the ring on the dressing table for me to find – and I hadn’t noticed it! When I eventually went to get my coat on he followed me and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I dropped my bag and fell over! It was perfect. He wanted to do it in the park originally but had been too nervous waiting!

We were married on Friday 2nd September 2016. We’d always said that once we got engaged we’d get married quite quickly. I’d always had April or September in mind – April was too soon so we went for the first Friday of September so (we hoped!) it would still be warm from summer but starting to get a bit more autumnal.

We got married at Whirlowbrook Hall in Sheffield. We did a lot of online research into places that we thought would fit our budget and ideas for the day. Ideally, I wanted a country house with lots of trees and greenery that was fairly close to Sheffield – we have lots of friends and family who had to travel.

I fell in love with Whirlowbrook as soon as I saw the pictures of it online, I emailed the wedding coordinator, Lucy, for more information and she was incredibly helpful and informative, which filled me with confidence. I had made my mind up before we even went to see it, but driving up the long drive towards the hall made me more determined that this was the venue for us. There were rabbits and ducks on the lawn and it felt so secluded and private. We both loved it and only viewed one other venue before returning to confirm our booking there.

Theme-wise, we wanted something a little bit rustic with a touch of Yorkshire. I’d seen so many lovely weddings on Pinterest and wanted to take little bits from all of them and make them our own. I also love Brides Up North and it was a huge source of inspiration whilst planning our wedding; I’ve stopped following all the other wedding blogs on Facebook and Instagram since getting married, but I’ve kept Brides Up North because I love seeing all the beautiful weddings – they’re always so pretty!

We made a lot of the table decorations, the order of service and table plans ourselves; I wanted it all to feel laidback but beautiful. We had bunting, lace, burlap and pastel colours as a general theme throughout and our flowers were styled on meadow flowers so that they looked perfectly undone. We’re not a flashy couple and I wanted it to feel a bit like a vintage party rather than a big fancy affair. We had lawn games and a Yorkshire-style menu.

The main colour was mint, and we used it for our bridesmaids’ dresses and groomsmen’s ties. Mint also ran through our decorations in the flowers, cake and table decorations. Our flower girl had some mint ribbon in her bouquet and my shoes had mint ribbon in them instead of cream. We chose it because it felt vintage and classic and it’s one of our favourite colours – three of the rooms in our house have mint walls!

Today’s bride Zoe was aiming for ‘1940s film starlet’ for her vintage wedding day look. After seeing these photographs, we’re sure you’ll agree that she smashed it. With her tea-length dress, birdcage veil and amazing Ingrid Bergman-esque ‘do’, she looks every inch the glamourous bride.

Retro vibes permeate every aspect of this gorgeous wedding, from the live music to the rich colours of the bridesmaids’ dresses and the stunning floral arrangements. Full marks, guys!

Here at Brides Up North HQ, we’re also touched by Zoe’s advice to brides-to-be: look into your partner’s eyes and not the registrar’s (!), and get thee to a Brides Up North wedding fair. Who are we to disagree?!

zoe says: We got engaged in Venice at 5.30am on a bridge in Canaregio on 7th May 2016. We’d always wanted to have a two-week holiday in Italy with a week in Venice then a week in Tuscany. We arrived on the Friday and got a water taxi (a complete treat, but obviously Chris knew he was going to propose on holiday whereas I had no clue!)

We love seeing a city wake up, so got up early on the Monday to go and walk round the beautiful streets. We started to cross the bridge right by our apartment and Chris caught my hand, stopped me and said, “Do you love it here?” I replied “Yes, of course” and he then got down on one knee – at which point I started grinning madly! And then he said “Great – in that case, would you do me the great honour of becoming my wife?” and produced the most beautiful emerald cut diamond ring! At this point I wanted to shout “Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!” quite loudly but remembered no one else was awake. Instead, we skipped (literally) down the street grinning our heads off!

Our wedding was planned for 10th February 2017. We wanted to get married quickly but still have some time to plan. We were extremely flexible and so chose our location and then saw what they could offer us – they had this particular Friday free and so we booked it!

Our venue was The Belle Epoque in Knutsford. We had quite a tick list – we wanted somewhere unusual and quirky, with a dancefloor and room for a band but also somewhere with a separate room so that people could sit down and talk. Chris doesn’t dance and so wanted to be able to go around and speak to everyone. I visited it with my mum and, walking in, I was immediately excited; it has a lovely feel, is full of art deco art and pieces, it has a huge welcoming fireplace and the bar is straight in front as you walk in. I spied a room off this entrance with tables and chairs in, so immediately thought that was a tick. We then went upstairs to the dining area which was set up for a wedding – I actually gasped! They had twisted willow and flowers and fairy lights hanging from the ceiling and huge tall vases of flowers, vibrant, rich, opulent colours and gorgeous iris-patterned wallpaper. I was a little bit teary and knew this was the place.

Our theme was a bit vintage and Peaky Blinders, I suppose. I love vintage dresses and wanted to look like a 1940s film star. We didn’t have a colour-scheme as such, but we chose deep reds, purples and pinks for the bridesmaids and flowers. I wanted the bridesmaids to choose their own dress and style but with a vintage theme. I wanted them to be able to wear them again and really enjoy choosing their own dresses!

For my dress, I knew I wanted something in a vintage style from the 40s/50s and tea-length. I started to look on Pinterest and came across a dress that I loved, so went onto the designer’s website and found a local stockist. I went to Puure in Lymm and Angie, the owner, saw me. I tried the dress I’d seen on and liked it but she insisted I try on more – and I was happy to oblige! After another one, she bought a dress out that I looked at and my heart started to beat faster even though it was full-length and had no sleeves! She fastened me up and explained it could be made-to-measure, adjusted to tea length and have three-quarter sleeves fitted. I looked at myself and felt fantastic. My mum grinned and I had a little tear! That was it. It was ivory satin – so rich and so many sumptuous folds of gorgeous material! It had a little belt with a sparkly diamante square buckle, a fitted bodice with a sweetheart neckline and a net top with tiny sparkles on. I had so many lovely compliments. Angie and her team and Sonya, the seamstress were absolutely incredible and made me feel like a 1940s film star on my day!

I wanted my hair setting in a vintage style and so booked the amazing Ewa Baberska, hair and makeup artist, to finish the look. Suzie Taylor was my makeup artist and she was great. I wanted a very natural look as I don’t wear much and she did exactly that, yet made me look fab.

For my headpiece I also wanted something vintage and had met Kaye Hannabuss of Kaye Hannabus Textiles at a networking meeting. We got chatting and I asked her if she would be able to make me something. She made me a fabulous vintage-inspired headpiece with a birdcage veil, a smartie base and a bow. For the evening, she made me a gorgeous hair slide with beads and pearls and diamante. Kaye works with Harris Tweed and so Chris was interested in talking to her about his and Holly’s waistcoats.

We don’t usually repeat posts here on the blog, but (like we reminded you earlier on today!) we’re hosting A POP-UP Mini Wedding Festival at The Bowdon Rooms next Sunday 26th February from 11am till 3pm, and we’re so excited that we wanted to remind you exactly how fabulous this versatile venue can be!

For any brides out there considering a vintage dress for your big day, today’s real wedding is likely to seal the idea as part of your plans. Just looking at today’s bride Anna in her unique vintage gown makes us go weak at the knees as she radiates such flawless beauty and elegance.

In line with her choice of attire, Anna’s wedding to beau Dan followed a vintage festival route with the ‘I dos’ and party taking place at one-of-a-kind venue, The Bowdon Rooms in Cheshire, with homemade décor to match.

anna says: We got engaged in 2013 on a beach in Kefalonia. We’d spent the day sailing over to Ithaca on a little boat and then made a picnic to take down to our local beach. I had no idea it was on the cards until Dan suggested getting some fizz, and then I had an inkling!

We got married on 23rd August 2014. We chose the date because it was a bank holiday weekend and we wanted get the most out of our celebrations with a day-after party at my mum’s house.

Our wedding took place at The Bowdon Rooms in Cheshire. We chose it because it’s in the area I grew up, close to my mum’s house, old school and teenage drinking haunts! We really wanted a local feel to our wedding and The Bowdon Rooms really provided that. We actually made the decision to book it when we popped into the Brides Up North wedding fair there and saw how lovely the space could look. The fact we could decorate and personalise the space as much as we wanted was a big deciding factor and the team at The Bowdon Rooms really accommodated this – especially when helping us hang hundreds of paper pom poms!

We didn’t really have a theme but we knew we wanted to go colourful, instead of traditional white/cream. We also wanted to have seasonal wild flowers on the tables with a vintage, DIY kind of look so I guess that defined our theme. Our wedding invitation also lent itself to this as we worked with an illustrator called Ryn Frank, who specialises in flora and fauna designs, and designed us a beautiful illustrated wedding wreath for our invites.

There can be no finer start to your week than this stunning North West wedding. Taking place at The Out Barn near Clitheroe, Rebecca and Scott’s big day had an elegant vintage theme with little nods to the rustic setting in the form of cute homemade décor.

There are so many beautiful elements to this wedding but we can’t stop looking at bride and groom’s attire, with both looking like they’ve stepped right out of the pages of a fashion magazine.

rebecca says: We got engaged at our little flat in Leeds in May 2015, after a really tough week at work. Scott had spoken to me during the day at work to say that because I’d had a stressful week that he would be cooking me a three course meal to cheer me up as I was totally fed up! When I arrived home, there were photos from the five years we had been together hung on string all over the kitchen and living room which made me cry! After the dinner he then got down on one knee, up until that point I had no idea at all, then I didn’t say yes for about five minutes because I was crying so much! When I called my mum and dad to tell them they said they’d been avoiding speaking to me all week as Scott had been over earlier in the week to ask my dad.

We set the date for 2nd July 2016. After getting engaged we were in no great hurry and so looked online at a couple of venues to get ideas. Before Christmas we went to an open day at The Out Barn in Clough Bottom. My parents live in Chorley so we decided to go for the week and visit the venue with my mum. We went to the wedding fayre, had a look around and were about to leave, when my mum said she wanted to ask about dates. They were booked until September 2016 except for one date in July, so we went for it and had a very busy 14 weeks ahead of us!

Upon visiting we just fell in love with The Out Barn and its surroundings. We loved the character of the building too and the views are amazing!

Our theme for the wedding was rustic/vintage. We made all the decorations ourselves and we wanted everything to be a bit mismatched, as it suited how we are as a couple. We didn’t have a specific colour scheme to start with, it was only after we had chosen the pastel coloured material for the bunting that a specific palette emerged.

Can we get a Fri-yay?! That’s right, it’s almost the weekend, but before we leave you to drink prosecco and dance on tables we’re sharing a gorgeous styled shoot put together by a talented group North West suppliers.

If you’re planning to add a vintage twist to your wedding day look, then we reckon this shoot will be right up your street as it features glamorous hair and makeup, Gatsby-esque accessories and vintage style dresses, along with a little fur and pearls.

Photographer Tash Evans-Jones of Love Luella, took the lead on this one while capturing all the pretty on camera and so we’ll leave the blog in her skilful hands to explain more about the concept and how it all came together…

tash says: The concept and planning of this styled shoot came together within a day, working with local suppliers and venues that I’ve come across through the industry.

I already knew Makeup By Harriet from the wedding circuit and we’ve dabbled in creative shoots before. Once I’d got Harriet on board I got in touch with two of the nearest venues to me: The Wynnstay B&B and Ruthin Castle, both of which are stunning. We then sourced our greenery bouquet and wildflower bouquet from Jane at Inflorescence Florist, based in Ruthin. Lastly we borrowed a 50’s style tea-length bridal gown from Cambric Gowns in Mold.

One of my friends, the lovely Rebekah, kindly offered to model for us. The day before the shoot I had a brainwave to feature my own personal vintage wedding dress (that I sourced for, wait for it…£9.99!) to feature in the shoot too and so I persuaded MUA Harriet to model for us as well.

johanna says: We got engaged in York on 25th January 2014. Drew proposed on a bridge overlooking the city at night, it was very romantic. We set the date for Saturday 25th July 2015 – exactly 18 months to the day that we got engaged.

Our chosen venue was The Shireburn Arms, Hurst Green, Clitheroe, as we felt that it was fitting to our personalities and would feel more intimate for us and our guests.

We wanted the day to be fun and for our guests to feel relaxed, and so we choose a rustic vintage theme for the wedding, which allowed us to put our own unique touches on the day. We didn’t have a colour scheme as such, though our bridesmaids and groomsmen wore a blush pink tone, which fitted in the summery time of year.